Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire The Triumph of the Family Farm

According to this article, farming is booming and institutional investors are investing...

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/07/the-triumph-of-the-family-farm/308998/

I wonder if the farmers on the fire agree?

Interesting collectivist conclusion to the article about private sector entrepreneurs and the market factors.

Thats a pretty good article with some good points. I farm andi seed about 3800 acres in North Dakota. No irrigation becuase we don't have the water. Our average percipitation is about 14 inches a year total. This is what limits our yeild potential. The bottom line with all the technology is still yeild and price.It has been good for 5 or 6 years now hopefully it will continue for a while. ED

Not one mention of the jump in farm product prices due to gubmint subsidized and mandated ethanol fuel.

lot's more room for prosperity when food prices are up rather than when they're down.

heck, i've been in line at the big box groceries, and tons of people buying food product just by signing a piece of paper they carry around them. some form of food stamps, i reckon?

The Triumph's of the Bristoe family.





I've moved on to other bikes,..but they were fun while my knees would tolerate them.

When I think family farm I think the 120 acres that my maternal grandfather farmed and fed five kids from, or the 50 acres my paternal grandfather farmed and raised two boys from. Those are gone forever, the economy of scale isn't there and you can't support a family from that. Anyone farming 120 acres nowadays is a hobby farmer with another job or a pension to provide the necessities.

These big 3000-10,000 acre farms aren't "family farms" to me, they're corporations. Good on anyone who does that for a living, but the real "family farms" are gone forever.

crow,that's my thinking too. we're seeing an interest in urban agriculture. it's appealing, warm and fuzzy.

but commodity production to feed the population has to come from the big multi-nationals and related. bulk production for a bulk population, and for export.

i understand the red chi-coms are buying or leasing massive tracts of land in africa to be dedicated to farming and food production for china.

but, i do like the sound of a "family farm."

Big Ag is no friend to family farms. Nor are bankers for that matter. I'm the 3rd generation on what used to be my family's farm, but it is not my livelihood. However I have a daughter who may take a shot at organic gardening in the next couple of years. It would be nice to see her make a go of it.

'Local Produce' is catching on around here pretty well. I support small local farmers and ranchers every chance I get.

from what's been on the news media there's been some dust clouds in the sw and midwest area.

i don't know if this is farming related or weather related. but, it can't be good when the soil becomes airborne.

the idea of locally produced food for local populations does have an appeal. as does southern hemispheric food imported into the Us in the winter months.

In the last 4 years, feed and fuel prices have MORE than doubled - cattle prices - not even close!
See "runaway inflation"

Mark

Put up some pictures of your crops / produce over the last 10 years than, azzwhole.

You look and sound like LOVING the sound of your waterpipe, or Bong, or whatever the [bleep] it is you suck on.

PICS,.... your PRODUCTION....let's see em'!

GTC

I get REALLY pizzed off at these Space Cadet Academy Graduates,..... "Hippy / Yuppy" types that have one foot in the grave, and haven't grown, or planted a goddam thing since they were pups.

I give a rat's azz where they "Grew up", or WTF they did on their parents "Farm",..... any of that,....either.

Show me your RECENT production,......that's where I'm coming into this discussion from.

Let's say you want to grow fine, chem free vegetables in competition with subsidized, local "NAFTA Marketing Groups".

Mark,......you know EXACTLY what I'm getting at here, too.

GTC

I beleive the people in the USA still spend less of their income on food than any place on earth. Don't whine with your mouth full cause i can't hear you. ED